Ban Tablighi Jamaat and its Markaz: VHP

New Delhi, Apr 5 () The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) called for a complete ban on the Tablighi Jamaat and its Nizamuddin Markaz on Sunday, after it emerged as a COVID-19 hotspot in the country.

The Tablighi Jamaat's Markaz (headquarters) in Delhi's Nizamuddin West emerged as a coronavirus hotspot as hundreds of people, who attended a religious congregation there in the second week of March, tested positive for COVID-19.

Several others spread across the country, who attended the Tablighi Jamaat, are suspected to be carriers of the deadly virus.

Stating that because of the Tablighi Jamaat and its Markaz, the entire country was facing a COVID-19 crisis, VHP's joint general secretary Surendra Jain said it should be banned and all its bank accounts sealed, while alleging that the organisation was a nursery and nourisher of Islamic radicalism and terror.

After the hard work and achievements of the pan-India lockdown, the whole country was taking a sigh of relief, but due to the Tablighi Jamaat, the possibilities of community transmission of the fatal virus had increased, VHP spokesperson Vinod Bansal said in a statement.

At least 1,023 COVID-19 cases in the country have been found to be linked to the Tablighi Jamaat congregation, but massive efforts by various authorities have led to nearly 22,000 people associated with the religious grouping and their primary contacts being quarantined, a Union Health Ministry official said here on Saturday.

The government has also launched a nationwide search for participants to the huge religious gathering amid fears that thousands present there could have carried the infection across the length and breadth of the country. JTR RC